In the Hands of Traitors
by Leman Rustle
Summary: In the dark future of the 41st millennium there is only war. And from this universe something has come. Several somethings. They maybe odd and slightly nefarious but Commander Jane Shepard will take all the help she can get in the fight against the Reapers. Even if that help comes in the form of traitors.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**I found a thing**

Commander Jane Shepard, Hero of the citadel, saviour of the Rachni, killer of Geth and all around badass dragged herself back onto the Normandy after a long day of being shot at by mechs. This in itself wasn't all that unusual, she'd killed lots of mechs in her time- or at least things that were almost mechs- but she rarely had to kill said mechs only hours after being brought back from the dead by a xenophobic organisation that she trusted less than Jokers homemade tacos (how those things managed to give a KROGAN food poisoning bad enough to kept him in the infirmary for two weeks she would never understand). Then of course there was Miss Miranda Lawson…

"… and if you'd just let Cerberus take the Quarian we'd have been able to get so much more information about the Collectors from questioning him." Continued said woman who didn't seem to realise that Shepard had tuned out her incessant complaining after the first five minutes. Noting the surprising lack of sound after the Cerberus operatives' declaration Shepard turned to her and asked with forced pleasantness "You done complaining Lawson?" Miranda opened her mouth paused and then slowly closed it again. "Thank god for that." Muttered Shepard, turning away from her "I'm going to go to bed so no one-""Actually Commander" Miranda began "The Illusive man wanted to speak to you and get your report on the mission." "Fine then" Shepard sighed "I'll go see your boss, but this better not lead to me having to stay up any longer than that." Of course Shepard should've known this was a bad thing to say. It was just provoking murphy's law.

And so it was that after a brief meeting with Cerberus's shadowy leader "The Illusive Man" (or TIM for short) she had to read over FOUR whole dossiers, decide who they would recruit first and finally give her decision to joker before going to bed. This may have not taken very long, but to Shepard every minute extra she had to work felt like an hour. So when she told Joker they were going to head to Omega to pick up the first two teammates she also told him that she was going to sleep until they arrived at the real life version of mos eisley and if anyone woke her up they would and I quote "have their genitalia fed to a rabid cocker spaniel". Joker took this threat seriously because- despite Shepard having no access to dogs of any kind, let alone a cocker spaniel- he had no doubt she would find a way to make good her threat. So, with a head filled with Black adder references, Shepard wandered to her nice warm bed, collapsed into it and was asleep before she hit the pillow. She had been hoping for a dreamless peaceful nights rest. She should have realised that, this too was tempting murphy's law.

_To the casual observer the vast expanse of blackness seems empty, devoid of life, light or debris, but the casual observer would be wrong. Deep in the inky void a single light flickers again and again, moving swiftly onwards. Zoom in and you find an immense ship, its body coated in statues some of humans others of horrific abominations that belong in the realm of nightmares. The eye travels across its immense form spotting dents, scratches and scars across its surface. With this the observer realises the function of the vessel. It is a warship, for few ships acquire this many scars in a lifetime of hauling cargo or surveying new worlds. The multitude of cannons placed across the hull is also a clue. As the eye observes the ship it sees the vessel rock, as shots impact its back. The eyes scans back seeing 3 other ships- not as large as this one but still quite large- following close behind various weapons lighting up across them sending shots streaming across the dark of space. Not particularly friendly. The eye is then pulled into the workings of the ship itself. Through hallways and corridors it fly's passing towering warriors battling twisted, inhuman abominations before, finally it reaches the ships bridge. The eye is greeted with the sight of a man standing taller than any other the observer has seen, covered in black plates of metal and a horned helm which makes him look like a stereotypical evil knight. He glances round the bridge as voices come from every inch of the room, half formed sentences being cut off one after another as more bad news filters in via readouts and reports. Through the near constant cacophony a handful of words can be easily identified. Words like "depleted", "severe" and "extreme" filter through, said in worried voices but all said with the underlying calm only found in veterans of war in bad situations. Suddenly the black armoured man stands and speaks calmly. "One at a time please. Super human hearing I may have but that doesn't make easier to pick out individual voices." For a few seconds there is silence, and then one by one the warriors tell him their news. The general consensus is that things are bad. Real bad. The tall warrior sighs deeply and stands. He turns to another figure standing behind him. This man is shorter but still imposing. His armour is blue with gold trim and the helmet has an Egyptian style head dress attached to it. The dark armoured man speaks quietly to his blue armoured comrade. "Gandling, I want you to go down to the engine room and get Isaac. Then I want you to take him to the gate." The figure named Gandling took a startled step backwards before leaning forward "You're not intending to use it are you? We have no idea of the effect it could have. We don't even know if it works yet!" Gandling whispered in an incredulous voice. The dark armoured figure sighed "I'm not going to let this ship and its crew die so easily Gandling. Better an uncertain fate than a certain death." Gandling still seemed uncertain. The armoured figure placed a hand on Gandlings' shoulder. "Just trust me old friend. I will get us out of this. I have gotten us out of worse situations haven't I?" Gandling sighed." Alright, I'll get Isaac and take him to that… contraption. But if this ends up killing us, don't say I didn't express concern." The armoured figure nodded and turned back to the bridge before bellowing a few orders. But already the eye was moving._

_It descended through floor after floor at breakneck speed passing countless floors of armoured warriors until it eventually reached a massive room filled with odd looking fighters all attached to gangways and fuel pipes. But there was an area in the rooms' centre which contained no fighters or anything else. All that sat in this small clear circle was an oval of metal about 10 feet high and half as wide covered in wires attached to small boxes at either side of the base which had larger wires protruding from them that lead to a large control panel. Standing before it were the man from the bridge -"Gandling" -and a man covered in steely grey armour with long metal pipes protruding from his back. The grey armoured man was speaking in a slow monotone voice to Gandling. "I can't be sure of its effects in its damaged state, sorcerer, nor where we will arrive if we do activate it. For all I know it could blast us all the way to Terra. Or drop us into the eye of terror. I need not tell you the end result of both of those eventualities" The man named Gandling shook his head sighing. "I know Isaac, I have my doubts as well, but Ezriael sees no other way out of this situation." The figure named Isaac seemed to consider this for a moment before glancing at the control panel before him. He turned back to Gandling." I shall do as lord Ezriael commands. But I wish it to be on record that I have a terrible feeling about this." As Isaac turned back to the panel Gandling nodded." So do I Isaac. So do I."_

_Suddenly the observer was jerked away pulled away from the hangar to see the mighty vessel in its full glory. It was shaking violently as shots impacted on its engines and side but still it ploughed on. Suddenly one of the tailing vessels began to shake uncontrollably, an orb of bluish purple light forming in front of it. Then suddenly it was speeding towards the ship at a fantastic rate, followed by smaller orbs from the other vessels. The largest orb collided with the fleeing vessels engines sending fragments of metal everywhere as some of them went up in flames. The smaller orbs followed smashing into the ships side as it slowly turned, its remaining engines causing it to rotate to port .It shimmered and crackled, sparks racing along the battered hull. As the sparking started the front pursuer sped up, heading on a direct collision course for the fleeing vessel. Sparks turned to light and for a brief moment the whole ship seemed to radiate light, brighter than anything any sun could produce. Then the enemy ship collided with it giving off an inhuman screech of tearing metal. After that the only sound to be heard was that of an explosion._

Shepard jerked awake, eyes wide and mouth dry, the after image of the explosion burnt into her retinas. After a few seconds she fell back on to her pillow her mind racing. It hadn't been That dream. Years of sleepless nights and an ocean of cold sweat caused by That dream and for the first time in years she hadn't seen it. She smiled. Maybe this marked a new start for her. Maybe she would never have That dream again. Maybe she-. Her reverie was broken by a ping from her omnitool. She sighed and lifted it to her face. "Yes?" "Commander I really need you to come up to the bridge right now" Jokers voice sounded over the speaker anxious and aced with fear. Shepard sighed. "Joker you know what I said would happen to anyone who disturbed me." "I know commander and you can set as many spaniels on me as you like later but this is bigger than spaniels.". Now that got Shepards attention. Her spaniel torture was faamed throughout the alliance for being the most horrific, the most awful and the most unusual method of interrogation ever conceived. And Joker was saying this was bigger than that. "I'm on my way" Shepard said pulling herself upright and mentally reminding herself to avoid sleeping in her armour again. Useful maybe but damn uncomfortable.

One agonisingly slow elevator trip later (seriously? No expenses spared on the ship save with the elevators?) she was wandering into the bridge and striding towards the cockpit. "Alright" she said as she stepped into Jokers humble abode "Lets see exactly what… is… Well" Shepard stuttered seeing what joker and her two squad members were staring at. In front of the SR2 was the immense tuning fork like shape of the Mass relay. But floating nearby was another massive shape. It was a ship. Well half a ship to be more precise. A half that on its own was nearly a kilometre and a half long. A ship with a sloping curved front separated into sections covered in indentations containg satues Demonic and downright lovecraftian horrors. A half bristling with enough firepower to make a reaper blush. Shepard gulped. "Yeah Joker your right" she said quietly. "That is definitely bigger than a spaniel".


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favourited or followed the story. I hope you enjoy where it's going to head ****. On a different note I have no clue why half the story is in Italics as it isn't like that on the file. I suppose I didn't enact the proper** **appeasement rituals for word****. So the italics in this chapter aren't any warpy nonsense, they're just the machine spirit acting up**

**Chapter two**

**Orks aren't the only ones that enjoy looting**

"But commander I must protest!" Miranda Lawson said as calmly as she could to Shepard. "We should be recruiting individuals to help us fight the collectors. Not messing around on some old wreck." Shepard looked up and forced herself to smile at Miranda. If Miranda wanted to play the "difficult game" with Shepard she'd find that the Commander had won that game three years in a row. Until she died of course .That had prevented her re-entering in that competition for a while. "We aren't messing about on it" she said with fake cheer "We're looting it. That's very different to messing around". Miranda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "May I remind you commander that two of our possible recruits are on Omega? A place so dangerous that the unprepared are unlikely to survive on it for more than a few days?" Shepherds smile never wavered. "Come on Miranda. If that Archangel guy has the skills to fight the mercenaries of Omega for years he can survive for another day if that. And who would attack a doctor? It's just asking to be left to bleed out." Miranda opened her mouth few a few seconds before closing it. "Fine" She muttered. Shepard smile grew a little wider and became a little more genuine. "Nobody beats me at being difficult" she thought. Out loud she said "Glad that's settled. Now suit up and get ready to head off". "I am suited up" Miranda replied putting on a clear face mask. Shepard looked her over once or twice. "Um… no you're not. You're just wearing that really slim jumpsuit you always wear." Now it was Miranda's turn to smile. "This **is** me suited up commander. This jumpsuit may not look space worthy but it has a heavily modified kinetic barrier that protects me from extreme pressure or extreme temperature. In other words this is as good at protecting me from space as your armour is." Shepard glanced at Jacob who was putting his own armour on. "She's telling the truth commander" He said, sealing his helmet, "The Illusive Man poured a great deal of research into that tech. A worrying amount if you ask me." Shepard sighed, fixing her own helmet on. Okay so maybe someone could tie with Commander Shepard in the game of being difficult. Still didn't mean she was going to lose. "Alright. But don't blame me if you turn into a Miranda-cicle"

Stepping out of the armoury the three of them headed for the elevator. As the elevator started Shepard kept an eye on the floor counter above the door, watching as they moved from mid deck to hanger with excruciating slowness. "So he can put a worrying amount of funding into space worthy cat suits but can't be bothered getting an elevator that moves any faster than snail speed?" Shepard thought to herself. "I thought he was supposed to be an extremist, not a pervert." The second they reached the hanger Shepard speed out of the elevator and headed straight for the Kodiak shuttle giving a quick nod to Cortez as she clambered in. "We'll start searching from the bottom." She said fixing on a safety harness as Miranda and Jacob clambered in. "Then start going up after we search that floor". "We're going to loot this whole thing ourselves?" Jacob asked incredulously. Shepard snorted with genuine laughter. "Course not Jacob. We're just going to make sure the place is secure before we let any non-combatants on it to begin the looting process. Don't want any of the crew dying to mechs or traps do we?" Jacob shook his head "No ma'am".

The shuttle lifted off the deck and flew out the hangar doors. The dead hulk of the vessel lay before them, slowly rotating in front of the mass relay. The small shuttle headed straight for the lowest floor and slipped into the largest hole on the bottom floor. As it above the deck the doors on the side opened, allowing the team to step out onto the deck, mag-boots activating and fixing them to the deck with loud clangs. Miranda turned to the shuttle and spoke to Cortez through he inbuilt communicator. "Head back to the Normandy. We'll call you when we need a pick up." "Actually Miranda" Shepard said slowly "you may want to hold off on sending our ride away." "Commander?" Miranda said confused, turning her head to look at Shepard who was marching towards the mangled remains of what might once have been a fighter but was now just a large hunk of metal that looked like it had lost a fight with a trash compactor. It also had a large, humanoid figure in blue and gold armour stuck in the side.

Shepard walked over to him, put on hand of the metal and grabbed the figures shoulder with the other, braced her leg against the battered mass of metal and heaved. It took a few tries but she eventually managed to free the figure from his position, letting him float freely for a short distance. "Must be one of the crew." Shepard said staring at the armour and trying to remain as calm as possible. This was one of the beings from her dream. Ah arm with what had been his name again…? Gandling that was it. How could he be here? He was something from a dream. Her brief reverie was broken by a call of "Commander" through her earpiece. She turned to see Jacob strolling towards her holding the leg of another armoured figure. One with steel coloured armour and a series of long metal… tentacles protruding from its back. The spitting image of the other figure in her dream that had been in the hangar. "Found him floating behind some wreckage" Jacob said hauling the figure towards her. "What should we do with them commander?" She shook her head to clear the shock from it. Yes. Think. That'll keep your mind from freaking out. "Get them on the shuttle" She said before turning to the Kodiak. "Cortez take these guys back to the Normandy and get them to the medical bay." She said. "Tell Chakwas to give them an examination to see exactly what they are. Also make sure there's a security detail on them just in case they're a little… feisty." "Yes ma'am." Cortez answered as Shepard tried to fix the safety harness onto "Gandlings" armour. After both of their new guests had been strapped in Cortez took off and headed back to the Normandy. Shepard looked towards the bowls of the ship, lifted her shotgun and set off.

The inside of the vessel was pitch black, no emergency lights at all (probably due to the fact that the ship didn't even have a power core anymore). The corridors were simple and unadorned yet wide enough for the three of them to walk abreast but only just._ But they often couldn't because of the corpses that were littered around said corridors. All of them were big, all of them were imposing, all of them had ridiculously huge shoulder-pads and all of them looked like the warriors from her dream. Okay one or two things being similar she could stomach but this?! What was next she'd see a big unicorn from a dream she'd had when she was ten? And through it all she couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched. Her train of thought was interrupted by something knocking gently against her helmet .She blinked and grabbed at the object to examine it. It was small, vaguely spherical but sort of looked like what someone who'd heard of a sphere but not fully understood the concept would make when asked to make a wheel, and it was a dark sanguine in colour. It looked like a tiny ruby, but Shepard knew better than to think it was one. "What is that?" Miranda asked moving closer to look at it. "Blood gem." Shepard replied mildly. Miranda glanced at her questioningly. "They're what happens when someone bleeds in space. The blood freezes after it leaves the body and forms these long fronds of frozen blood. Sometimes chunks break off as the corpse floats about and that's what this is. The alliance marines call em blood gems cause... well you can guess why." She stared at the small mass of frozen blood in her hand and then slowly began to look around. The tiny gems were floating everywhere, but they were floating from a small tear in the wall of the side of the hallway, just a few meters in front of them. Shepard slowly walked towards it, shotgun in hand, finger on trigger and body tensed. As she approached the rent a small blood gem came flying out of it at a surprising speed, bounced off the opposite wall and headed off-a little slower but still rather quickly- down the hall, bouncing from wall to wall like an excited five year-old. She watched it bounced down the hallway, narrowly avoiding knocking both of her squad mates out, before slowly looking into the rent. What she saw caused her to let out a small gasp._

_Within the rent was a corpse. But that wasn't what disturbed her. The red skinned, horned, demonic looking creature gleefully hacking away at the armoured corpse like a lumberjack with a recently felled log, using a long black sword was what disturbed her. The… thing looked up at her, surprise written across its face. Then an evil grin spread across its features and it launched itself off the wall it had been holding onto, mouth open in what probably should've been a terrifying scream. Shepard reacted instantly pulling the trigger of her shotgun and blasting the things face off. It was only as the things corpse hit the wall behind it with a wet thud that Shepard felt a deep feeling of unease wash over her. It was the same feeling she always got when something made an awful high pitched noise that summoned more of its kin. But it couldn't have done that. After all in space nothing could hear a scream. She was proved wrong as she felt a series of vibrations coming up through her boots and something rounded the corner. A lot of somethings._

_Some of the things that came barrelling down the hallway looked similar to the creature that now needed a face transplant. Others looked nothing like it. Some were green, some were blue. Some had crab-like claws, some had rips in their bellies that allowed their guts to hang freely. Some look almost human. The majority did not. Shepard and her team reacted on instinct, Shepard sending a couple of shotgun blasts towards the swarm as Miranda dropped a singularity in their centre causing several to lose their grips on the walls making them perfect targets for shotgun shots. As the corpse continued to float around Jacob sent a warp into the singularity causing it to detonate violently send chunks of monster in all directions –it even sent a demonic head into the ceiling where it stuck, horns poking through the ceiling. It was just as Shepard sent a shockwave down the corridor to knock back the foes at the front of the mass that she felt more vibrations through the floor. Shepard turned around and saw __**more **__of the monsters coming from the hall way behind her. "The bastards" she thought "they lured us in here to trap us. One group attacked us from the front and the other snuck around behind us and waited for these guys to attack us" They could hold their own against one front of these things. Two would be far more difficult- perhaps even impossible. But Commander Jane Shepard was not about to go down without taking a few of these bastards with her. She turned to face the new mass of beasts heading her way and pumped her shotgun. It was just as she prepared to begin blasting indiscriminately at the horde that a massive figure appeared from nowhere in the middle of them._

_It was a few seconds before Shepard recovered from the shock of a large, clawed, figure in pink and black armour with a pair of old fashioned jet turbines attached to its back and a slightly bird like helmet, appearing out of nowhere, and by that point chunks of the ceiling had been ripped out, allowing three more armoured figures to drop into the fray. The large clawed warrior in front of her turned to her and she heard a crackle emerge from her communicator. "Don't just stand there!" a deep sonorous voice said through her communicator "FIGHT!" Shepard snapped herself out of shock and proceeded to attempt to meet her shotguns daily quota of blown off faces. Between shots she watched the figure leap through the mass of beasts, claws severing limbs and tearing through flesh. It was almost too easy for him. The figure was secured to a surface with mage boots and so had his hands free to murderise monsters while his foes had to cling to the surfaces with their claws and so were having a harder time attacking their new melee foes. As such, things were not looking good for the bad guys. They seemed to have realised this and were back pedalling furiously trying to get as far away from the claws of their foe as possible. Of course he didn't seem too keen on that and was still trying to kill as many as he could. As the last of the beasts fled back down the hall Shepard finally got a good look at the other individuals who'd saved her life. In addition to the big pink one with the claws there was one wearing battered armour that was a strange sickly green and carrying a gun that was probably bigger than Shepard, and one in blood red armour with tall, pointed almost wing-like plates of metal attached to each side of his helmet and carrying a pair of weapons that looked like the love-child of a chainsaw and a battle axe. And finally there was... She stopped and stared. The colour of the armour. The knight-like helmet with tall horns protruding from the sides. The fact that his armour was larger and bulkier than the others. As she heard his voice crackle through her communicator she knew who the warrior before her was. "Who are you? And what are you doing on my ship?" said Ezraiel._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Culture-shock

"Commander?" Shepard blinked. "Huh?" she turned to see Jacob elbowing her in the side. "You okay Shepard?" he asked. "Uh… yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" she replied. "Well you **have **just been staring at this guy for the last minute so…" "Have I?" "Yep. You might want to actually start talking to him." Shepard turned and looked up at Ezraiel. Who, she noticed, was pointing a rather large gun at her. "Um… sorry about that." She said rubbing the back of her head. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance - " A cough cut her off, loud as a gun-shot in the nervous silence. Shepard sighed, glancing back at Miranda who watched her expectantly. "**Formerly** of the Alliance navy" Shepard looked at Miranda. "Happy now Miranda?" Miranda nodded briefly. "And why are you on my ship?" Ezraiel asked coldly, the gun never even twitching. "Well-" Shepard began. If she told him the truth he could go ballistic with his ballistics, but he'd probably be even angrier if she lied. Better find a happy medium. "We found your ship just floating through space. It had taken a huge amount of damage so we decided to search it for any survivors.", Now all that she needed was for him to not ask - "And what would you have done if you did **not** find survivors?" … well fuck. She sighed. "We would have looted everything that wasn't welded down and then returned later so we could un-weld the welded stuff." She held her breath, awaiting his answer. Ezraiel sighed and lowered the gun a little. "I suppose I can't fault you for that. We wouldn't have needed the ship if we were dead, anyway". Shepard smiled faintly. Score one for the Commander. Ezraiel glanced around the group. "So what do you plan to do now you've found us?" "Well," Shepard began. "I planned to take you guys back to our ship and then try to get you guys home once the other guys are awake and", "Other guys?" Ezraiel interrupted his gun lowering even further. "Yeah" Shepard said. "We found a couple of other survivors in the hangar. They were pretty beat up, but alive none the less." "What did they look like?" Ezraiel said quickly, a hint of what could have been hope entering his previously emotionless voice. "Well one guy had this sort of silvery steel coloured armour with tentacles growing out of the back and the other had blue and gold armour with a little head-dress on the helmet." Shepard replied, watching Ezraiel closely. "Yes!" a voice crowed over the comm's.

Shepard turned sharply to find the warrior in red armour turning to the pink one and slapping him on the shoulder. "What did I tell you Xeros? I knew it would take more than a little explosion or a few daemons to kill off Isaac and Gandling!" The pink one chuckled. "Perhaps, but an explosion **and** a few daemons could have been enough to end them. Never the less, I am glad that I have been proven wrong this time." The silky voice of 'Xeros' replied. "We can celebrate the supposed survival of our allies later." A third, far deeper voice, growled. "Once we are certain these heathens haven't killed them in their sleep." Shepard coughed loudly. "You guys do realise we can hear you, right?" There was a long pause. "Well done Solomon," Xeros said eventually "very well done. You've managed to insult our allies within five minutes of meeting them. That has to be a new record," "Probably" 'Leon' said glancing at 'Solomon', who muttered something in a language that Shepard's' communicator wouldn't translate. Shepard turned back to Ezraiel, who was shaking his head slowly, but she reckoned that she could hear a faint chuckling.

He stopped shaking his head as he noticed her watching, and coughed. "Ehem, I take it my men are safe?" The moment of levity was apparently over. "Yes," Shepard said "I had them taken back to our ship for medical attention,"Ezraiel nodded slowly. "They were injured?", "No, but their armour was damaged and they were out cold. I wanted to make sure we could help them if there were any medical problems," There was a long pause. Eventually Ezraiel said" I suppose I must thank you for those precautions. You may have saved one third of this vessels surviving crew. I believe myself and my men will take you up on that offer of a journey back to our home,", "What offer?" Shepard said, before her memory caught up with her. "Oh, that offer. Well yes we'd be happy to help. We'll just call our shuttle and get us all back to our ship." With that the group began to head back down the hallway. "Sooooo" Shepard began, as Miranda called Cortez "mind telling us who you are? Where you're from? You look human in shape, and you speak English, so you're probably human.", "Yes actually I do mind." Ezraiel answered, glancing at her. "Until I am certain my men have come to no harm, our origins are ours to withhold. Until then you can… speculate." And with that he turned away from her, and strode up the hallway.

The trip back to the hanger was a short, quiet one. At least on the outside. Inside Shepard's head thoughts bounced around, like five year olds who'd been given too many sweets. Who were these guys? They looked human, at least in shape, but then again so did the Asari and they weren't exactly perfects copies of a human. So, aliens then? It was possible, but unlikely. After all they could speak English and hadn't freaked out on seeing her. But… melee weapons? Save the for occasional old Krogan mercenary no one really used melee weapons. But standing behind her were three heavily armoured bastards USING melee weapons. And the ship, the armour, the… the everything! She'd never seen anything like them, except…. except in her dream. Her reverie was interrupted by the sight of Cortez flying into the hangar as they walked in. The Kodiak's doors opened and Shepard clambered in, followed by the rest of the group. That trip too was almost as silent as the ship they'd left behind. Even the dull throb of the engines seemed dulled and muffled before the silence of half a dozen brains sizzling away. When they finally reached the ship, the loud thump of the dropship hitting the floor of the Normandy's hangar was exactly what everyone needed to jolt them out of introspective wonderings.

Ezraiel was out of the Shuttle almost as soon as the doors had opened… and staring down the barrels of half a dozen rifles only a little bit after that. "Shepard…" Ezraiel said calmly. "Miranda…" said Shepard, somewhat less calmly. Miranda glanced left and right trying to find someone to say the name of, but found no one. "It's just a precaution," She said. "In case our 'friends' get any ideas.", Shepard sighed. "Well" she thought "that's the first impressions ruined". Aloud she said "Put those guns down!", "But commander" the foremost soldier began. She locked her glare on him like a torpedo. "Now" she snarled. Very slowly the barrels descended. Shepard redirected her glare at Miranda who stood to attention and said nothing. "Follow me" she said to Ezraiel, and she headed for the lift, pointedly ignoring Miranda and the armed men. "You should teach your men who is in command." Ezraiel said, glancing pointedly behind him at Miranda. Shepard sighed. "Believe me I've been trying with that one." As they clambered into the elevator, she turned to the group and said "Now I must warn you, this is an incredibly slow elevator." Solomon snorted. "We have faced worse than that. Truly, I fear for your men if such a thing scares you." "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you" Shepard muttered as she hit the second floor button.

Shepard was used to the mind numbing slowness that was the most notable trait of the Normandy's elevator. She'd come up with little games to play in her head to pass the time, but it was even better these days, due to the fact that Cerberus' scientists had seen fit to give her a few apps. It was far easier to whittle away the boredom laden minutes of the elevator with solitaire than it was with "mental pong". Her new 'friends', however, had no such defences. After the first minute they were fidgeting and jostling awkwardly, as everyone did during their first time. So she was unsurprised when Xeros leapt out of the elevator, as the doors opened on the crew deck. "Thank the Gods!`" he screamed, kissing the solid floor of the slightly less cramped hall. "How long did that take?" Ezraiel murmured to Shepard. "About five minutes" She replied, still watching Xeros. He'd said "Gods", not "God". Even if it meant nothing, she'd still have to remember that. "Only five?" asked Ezraiel, apparently incredulous at the idea. "Feels far longer, doesn't it?" Shepard said. "Like an eternity" Ezraiel mumbled, before glancing down the hall. "Now, where are my warriors?"

Shepard led them to towards the medbay, fervently hoping that Miranda hadn't decided to have a half dozen guards point guns at the unconscious members of Ezraiel's "Team". Fortunately Miranda seemed to not have gone that far, as the only guard there was leaning against the wall and seemed preoccupied with that most noble of activities – boredom. He stopped trying for the "singular most bored sentient lifeform" award when Commander Shepard came into view, followed by four individuals who looked like they could stop a flood using only their forearms. He leapt as much to attention as he could without looking like he'd been stung by a wasp and attempted a salute. I say attempted because he had forgotten he happened to be holding a rifle, which was now becoming acquainted with his skull. A loud yelp and an attempted rubbing of the head later the butt of the rifle was getting to know the guard's, now very sore, feet. Shepard tried not to look embarrassed as the man started hopping on one foot, clutching the other and swearing loudly. Key word there is "tried", primarily because she was almost certain that she had failed in that regard. She diverted her attention from her hopping subordinate and entered the medbay.

She was immediately greeted by the site of Dr Karin Chakwas, the ship's resident medic and formidable older woman (which is a must have on any vessel). As Shepard entered Chakwas turned in her chair. "Ah, commander. I'm glad you came by I need to talk to you about"-She began, but stopped very rapidly. It was at this point that Shepard had the sensation of being loomed over. It wasn't often someone out loomed her, but most of the people who managed it… well, let's just say the last thing to out loom her was a several mile long, cybernetic, cephalopod, intent on destroying all sentient life. So she decided that, since Ezraiel was slightly more intimidating than the late Sovereign (owing to the fact that he was more alive and more able to punch things) a brief introduction was in order. Shepard moved to the left and spoke, as Ezraiel properly entered the room. "Dr Chakwas, this is…" she paused suddenly aware that, although he closely resembled the "Ezraiel" from her dreams, she was unsure if he actually was an "Ezraiel". For all she knew, he could be a Steve. Fortunately Ezraiel seemed to have danced this tango before. "Ezraiel Caran" He stated flatly, "And I believe you have some of my men in your custody". Chakwas nodded, a little nervously, and lead Ezraiel to the beds on the other side of the room, on which were the two figures they'd rescued from the wreck. Shepard's eyes feel on the first of these beds. This bed was currently home to Ezraiel's blue friend – "Gandling" if she remembered the dream correctly – who lay there, motionless and helmetless. "Well," she thought "that's one mystery solved".

The face she saw was undoubtedly human and undoubtedly old. However, the features were still strong enough that you could probably build a castle on it. And as for the eyes… she stopped and stared, with her own two eyes. Humans are known for many things, being one of the newest races in the galaxy, having a seat on the Citadel council and the invention of curry pizza all being pretty high up there, but humans are most well known for having two or fewer eyes. Which was why Shepard was currently rather worried at the sight of an eyelid (and presumably an eye behind it) sitting in the middle of Gandling's forehead. Her mild shock was interrupted by the good doctor's dulcet tones. "Your men are fine, at least physically, but their brain activity is very low. I'm not sure when they'll wake up." she was saying to the metal coated figure beside her. He merely nodded at this revelation. "They are alive. That is enough for the moment." Ezraiel turned away from the bed to look at Shepard. "Now that I am certain my men are safe I think it's time we knew where we are, and then we can return home."

It didn't take long for them to get to the command centre, it would have been a little faster but Xeros flat out refused to get in the elevator. In the end he'd stated that he'd stay with their comatose comrades, so they wouldn't do anything "silly" when they woke up. Given the gravity of the situation, she doubted that this meant the custard down the trousers type silly. Then again who knew with these guys? Wouldn't be the first time she'd been proven wrong about someone. "Speaking of which." She thought as she entered the CC to behold the sight of Miranda, standing to attention, and desperately trying to look the part of the innocent little angel. She only really succeeded in the "angel" part and, even then, the only angel she actually resembled was Lucifer. Shepard ignored the woman, and led the group up to the galaxy map. "This is a map of the known galaxy" she began, but she was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath behind her as the galaxy map flickered into existence. She turned to look at the group, who all seemed to have their eyes fixed on the map. Leon coughed sheepishly. "Umm… the entire known galaxy?" he asked quietly. "Shepard merely nodded. " Is there anything here?" he continued, stepping up and indicating a reasonably sized area of the galaxy, near the galactic core. She magnified the area and examined it. "Not really." She said. "A few garden worlds and other slightly less habitable planets, but not much else." "Is there anything unusual about those planets?" asked Leon, sounding slightly worried. "No. Why?" Shepard replied, getting a little worried herself. "Oh no reason" Leon replied quickly, injecting his voice with false humour. "But, seeing as we're exchanging home world coordinates, mind showing us yours?". Shepard stared at him for a few seconds. Eventually she said "I can't give you the coordinates, it's against protocol. But… I can show it to you." She brought a hologram of the earth up. "This is the home world of my people, Earth." She began. Then, for a reason she couldn't fathom, she added "But some people call it "Terra"" Ezraiel and his men were silent for a long time, helmets fixed on the rotating globe. Shepard coughed awkwardly. " So… why did you guys want to check out that sector. Is that where your home world is?" Slowly the helmets moved to stare at her. "No commander, I can honestly say that our home world is not there." Ezraiel said eventually. Then, silent as spectres, he and his men turned and headed out of the room, back to the elevator.


End file.
